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Somali pirates seize German commercial ship

Somali pirates stormed a German vessel off the coast of Kenya on Sunday, the second such incident in the region in as many days. Seventeen crew members were taken hostage.

AP - Somali pirates seized a German freight ship off the coast of Kenya on Sunday - the second commercial vessel to be captured in the region in as many days, officials said.

The pirates took control of the German freight ship Beluga Fortune about 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometres) east of Mombasa, Kenya, a spokesman for the German army said on condition of anonymity, in keeping with military regulations.

The German shipping company Beluga-Reederei, which owns the vessel, said Sunday night that Somali pirates were behind the attack and that the ship was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to South Africa.

Verena Beckhusen, a spokeswoman for the Bremen-based company, declined to give further details regarding the crew or the cargo, but the German news agency dapd said the vessel was carrying at least two German citizens.

On Saturday night, pirates seized a liquefied gas tanker 105 miles (165 kilometers) off the coast of Kenya in the Somali Basin, said officials in Singapore, where the ship is registered.

The MV York was travelling from Mombasa to Mahe in the Seychelles with 17 crew when pirates commandeered it, the Singapore Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement.

The authority said Sunday it was working with the ship’s owner, York Maritime Co., and government agencies to recover the ship.

A Turkish warship sent a helicopter to investigate the attack, and its crew members saw pirates armed with weapons aboard the MV York, the European Union Naval Force said Sunday.

The 5,076-ton MV York had one German, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos aboard, the EU force said in a statement.

Somali pirates have long been active in the region, and they currently are holding 19 vessels with 428 hostages, according to the EU Naval Force.